Lightning Rod
by Human Customs Still Elude Me
Summary: We all know what happens when a Flash runs too fast. They enter the Speedforce, trapped for who knows how long. But even so...nothing is permanent. Because they were there. They were his family, his team, his friends. They were his way home, his lightning rod.


**Hey! One-shot 'bout Wally. I just caught up with Titans Rebirth, and I am loving it, so...lightning rod time.**

 **Let the flames burn. Please R &R!**

* * *

He is running. Running faster than he ever though possible. Faster than thought, faster than sound, faster than light.

He is seeing. Flashes of other universes, pun intended. Fragments, images of himself. Here he is the Flash, a founding member of the Justice League. Here he is a Teen Titan-whatever that meant-and he was fighting alongside Dick and Beast Boy. Here he his a Titan-again-racing Superman in the corn fields of Iowa.

But that isn't him, is it?

He slows down. Here he is gaining the affections of a pink-haired witch. Here he isn't even Kid Flash yet-and for some reason, the Justice League doesn't exist.

He has to get home.

He slows down.

* * *

 _Washington D.C, 1/5/18. 2:01 AM._

Artemis crouched behind a bush, her only defense against the biting wind of a night well below freezing. She hadn't checked the actual temperature, knowing that that would only make it seem colder, if possible.

 _'Artemis, are you in position?'_

She started, somehow forgetting about the mental link. _'Yes, Nightwing. And how many times do I have to tell you it's Tigress?'_

 _'A lot, apparently. Alpha squad, move out.'_

She watched as the three dark-clad figures of Alpha Squad stood out against the brilliant white snow for a brief instant, before into the shadows once more. A few seconds after, there was a brief, humanoid unevenness against the snow and concrete wall that she knew to be M'Gann.

 _'We're in. Beta, move out.'_

 _'Gotcha.'_

Artemis gestured to Wonder Girl and Blue Beetle, making a run for the back door. Thanks to someone(here meaning a Bat)'s hacking, it opened without setting off any alarms.

 _'Alpha, do you have the motion sensors and security cams off?'_

 _'Hold on...Yeah. Uh, Affirmative.'_

 _'Thanks.'_ Artemis held in a laugh at Robin's sheer awkwardness as she gestured to Wonder Girl and Beetle to follow her down the first branch of the hallway. With a short series of hand signals, Beetle went straight, Wonder Girl went right, and Artemis headed into the(extremely claustrophobic) ducts. The mission was to retrieve a sample of a toxin the Light was developing and the files for the manufacturing process. Running over the layout of the lab in her head, Artemis edged through ducts.

* * *

He is still _running._ But he was still seeing. With every step, the most random memories surface. The slightly burned cake his aunt baked him for his thirteenth birthday. The first time he had gone on patrol with his uncle. The first time he had met the League, how they had clearly thought he was adorable(with the exception of Bats. Was anything adorable to him?).

He knows that he needs to go.

He slows down.

* * *

With a practiced hand, Nightwing dropped a knockout gas pellet into the path of the guard walking down the hallway. He watched as the tall man passed out on his feet. Before he could hit the floor, Batgirl caught him by the back of the shirt and gently lowered him to the ground, and gave a thumbs up. He nodded in response as he and Robin emerged from their respective covers and kept walking towards the well guarded, top secret safe room designed to survive an F5 tornado.

 _'Beta, M'gann, how is it on your end?'_

Blue Beetle was the first to respond. _'I've taken out the alarm system. If there's a fire we're f-screwed, but everything is a-okay.'_

 _'I have the monitor room. He was half asleep and didn't know what hit 'im.'_ He could practically hear Artemis's smirk.

 _'I've got the files.'_

 _'I'm knocking out every guard I see. Also ready to stage a distraction if you need me to.'_ Nightwing nodded, felt stupid for doing so, and responded. _'Got it. We should be-hold on-'_ _  
_

He hit a guard in the back of her neck, effectively knocking her out. _'-At the safe room in under two minutes.'_

Unfortunately, that was when the contents of the Gotham sewers hit the fan.

In ten seconds, there was a distant lightning bolt. In fifteen, a boom that shook the entire building and set off dozens of car alarms, effectively waking up several guards. In twenty-five, the three Bats were located by a Light ops team fifty feet away, the backup alarms having switched on. In forty, the same three were on their feet trying to figure out what the hell had happened. In fifty, they had abandoned the pretense of cover and were running all-out away from the gunfire.

 _'Beta! Beta, pull out!'_

 _'I hear gunshots, what happened?'  
_

 _'We don't know! Get Beetle and Cassie and get out, we have at least seven hostiles! M'gann, forget the files and get out!'_

 _'Too late to forget the files. I'm heading to you now.'_

Thanks to the bullets striking the concrete floor next to their feet, they couldn't exactly respond.

 _'Alpha! Alpha, respond!'_

After one minute, Artemis had the safe room open. Another three seconds, and Nightwing slammed the door behind him.

Robin sighed heavily. "At least we're getting the sample." Switching the light on, he scanned the room and located the sealed vials holding a worryingly...glowing...green substance.

 _'Alpha, you okay?'_ M'gann sounded distinctly worried over the mind link, despite the fact that if anyone was hurt too bad, she would know. After glancing around briefly, Nightwing responded. _'Yeah, we're fine. Getting the sample now.'_

It would...probably be best not to repeat the curse that Artemis let out at that moment. _'Okay, first of all? Don't freak out. Second of all? There's no way out of the safe room but the door.'_ After a brief, silent conversation, Nightwing put the sample in his belt, and the three moved to next to the door. _'Got it. Artemis, open the door.'_

 _'Are you insane? They'll shoot you!'_

 _'Now is_ really _not the time to question my mental state. Open the door.'  
_

 _'...Don't die.'_

With a clang, the locks slid into the door, and a smoke bomb hit the ground.

* * *

He is still running.

But he has slowed. Slowed to a pace that he can see home. An explosion in Gotham, an oh-so familiar lab in Washington D.C, a brief glimpse of the Flash, who saw him for a split second, before skidding to a halt with his eyes wide in shock.

The Flash isn't the only one missing him.

He slows down.

* * *

The four heroes stared at the building with uncertainty, waiting for any sign of the Bats return.

"Think we should go in?"

Artemis shook her head at Blue Beetle's question. "No. They do this sort of thing." Kid Flash opened his mouth to speak, but M'Gann cut him off immediately. "Really, they do. Back when Nightwing was Robin, we ended up losing him on missions, what...thirty times total?"

"I think it was closer to thirty-five."

Artemis spun on her heel to see three dark-clad, somewhat bruised vigilantes standing behind them. "I still don't understand how, or why, you do that."

"We got the sample. Bats'll kill us for blowing our cover, but other than that, we did pretty good."

Artemis smirked. "Kaldur's gonna kill us too, Wing-nut." Nightwing shrugged in response. "We've had a good run. Let's get back to the bio-ship." Rolling her eyes, the blonde followed her teammates to the currently invisible ship hidden in an alley. "So...how'd you three beat the highly trained Light ops team than outnumbered you...what, seven to three?"

Robin grinned in response. "We're highly trained." At Artemis's poorly concealed laugh, Nightwing butted in. "He's not actually kidding, we're way better at this than them."

..."Oh."

* * *

He is running much slower, now. He feels the wind, hears a conversation on an oh-so familiar ship, the quiet mutterings between a vigilante and an immortal. He sees his childhood home, the ruins of Mount Justice, and an incredibly fast conversation between a speedster and his wife. He could not hear their words as the man departed towards a Zeta beam

He slows down.

He slows down.

 _Slow down, Wally, you need to slow down. You've been here long enough.  
_

He slows down.

* * *

After an intimidating debriefing from Batman, having to suffer through Aqualad's squad's debriefing(separate missions) and confusion at a silent Bat-conversation, the various team members were preparing to depart the Watchtower when a red light started flashing through the room and the smooth, computerized female voice rang out.

 _"UNKNOWN ENERGY SIGNATURE DETECTED._ _UNKNOWN ENERGY SIGNATURE DETECTED._ _UNKNOWN ENERGY SIGNATURE DETECTED."_

It started with a ripple in the air and a crackle of lightning. It expanded into a massive ball of crackling light in the middle of the room, as the League and Team members present grouped together, weapons at the ready as an outline appeared in the light.

And just as soon as it came it passed, leaving behind an out-of-breath speedster in it's wake.

 _"RECOGNIZED-KID FLASH, B-0-3."_

Total silence.

"Uh...hi?"

Barry got there first, his arms around the redhead in an instant. Artemis was next, launching herself at her boyfriend before you could blink, clinging to his arm for dear life. Then Bart, seemed almost afraid to touch his predecessor.

Dick and Kaldur looked like they could cry. The bird got there next, hand messing up his friend's hair in a gesture he had feared was forgotten. Then Kaldur, whose hand was on the younger man's shoulder, immediately, smiling broader than he had in a long time.

Momentarily taken aback by his loved ones clinging to him frantically, Wally stared blankly over his uncle's shoulder for a moment. Then a massive smile made its appearance.

It was good to be home.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!  
**


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